Bonnie Prince Billy and Tortoise - The Brave and The Bold

Bonny Prince Billy and Tortoise
The Brave and The Bold
[Overcoat/Domino, 2006]

When two of your musical heroes decide to get together, it can be a mixed blessing. Surely, the complex arrangements and instrumental dexterity of Chicago’s Tortoise could provide nothing but solid support for our bonnie Will Oldham. At first you might assume the band’s muscular tone to be somewhat antithetical to Oldham’s skeletally strained vocal delivery, and yet each serves to emphasize the strengths of the other. Plus, the dynamic of a strong band and a barely-there voice serves as an ironic undertext to the proceedings. The Brave and The Bold collects ten covers from such diverse acts as Elton John, the Minutemen, Devo, Bruce Springsteen, and Don Williams. Springsteen’s ‘Thunder Road’ is transformed from the agit-anthem of the original to a 70s-style prog masterpiece lifted from a long-lost rock opera. The group’s take on Elton’s ‘Daniel’ is equally revelatory, as the classic saccharine end-of-the-night torchsong loses the sing-songiness of Elton’s version in favour of an aural depiction of the drink and smoke-filled atmosphere which must have constituted the reality of the song’s lyrics – all this while still retaining the objective humour of the original. While not a groundbreaking album by any means, The Brave and The Bold is a perfect meeting of indie minds who were smart enough not to try and perfect a masterpiece. They just got together and played the songs which appealed to them, and we’re the better for it.

MP3: Bonnie Prince Billy and Tortoise, "Cravo É Canela"